In memory of our brother and son, Robert Bagnell,
who died moments after being tasered by police in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 23, 2004. Bob was the 7th Canadian to die and the 110th in North America.

Monday, March 10, 2008

A video of a disabled man being jolted by a Taser inside the RCMP detachment in Kamloops, B.C., was released Monday, weeks after the man's death in an unrelated incident.

But hours after radio station CHNL obtained the video, the man's lawyer, who released it, tried to block its broadcast by citing a recent court decision.

John Dempsey, 45, had launched a civil suit last year against the police after the Taser incident in 2004, but the suit appears to have died with him.

Dempsey suffered from torsion dystonia, a muscle and movement disorder similar to Parkinson's disease.

His lawyer, Jamie Ashby, said Dempsey was arrested Oct. 23, 2004, and charged with obstruction of justice when he tried to intervene in the arrest of a friend, whom he thought was being handled too roughly.

Both men were later acquitted of criminal charges and launched lawsuits against the RCMP alleging they had been assaulted, Ashby said.

Dempsey was shot with the Taser after refusing to walk through a doorway and had wedged his foot in the door frame.

"They're trying to push me, so I put my foot up on the wall to push back and I told them 'Don't do that. It's not right.' They grabbed me right by the shirt and threw me down on the ground," Dempsey said in an interview with radio station CHNL last year.

Time-lapse video

On the time-lapse security video, one officer is seen throwing Dempsey to the floor while the second officer uses a Taser on the handcuffed man.

Before he died, Dempsey said he didn't file a complaint at the time of the Taser incident because officers told him he would have to stay in jail and he believed he would not have access to his medications.

"I asked the watch commander to come down," Dempsey said in the radio interview.

"He came down and said if you're going to make a complaint, you're going to stay in jail overnight, and I can't stay in jail overnight because I had to get home to get my medication, otherwise, I'd shake a lot more."

The B.C. Supreme Court suit alleged Dempsey was shot twice by Const. Darwin Robbins the night of his arrest as he awaited processing at the RCMP detachment.

Experimental medical equipmentThe suit alleges an experimental piece of medical equipment known as a deep brain stimulator was destroyed by the Taser.

A legal fight has developed over publication of the video, which was obtained from the RCMP by Dempsey's lawyer during the discovery portion of the lawsuit.

"What happened is I had received permission from the family to release it," Ashby said.

"That hasn't changed but there's just some recent case law that might say otherwise so now we're kind of dealing with that. It was released in error and so … it's kind of in a state of flux. I've done what I can to try and get them not to play it yet."

Graham Stark, a lawyer with the federal Justice Department, said the RCMP has not moved in court to block broadcast of the video, but when asked whether it now was in the public domain, he replied: "I wouldn't go that far."

Dempsey died last month after walking into traffic on the Coquihalla highway.

"He's passed away so the case dies with him," Ashby said, but added his client's suit is still going ahead.

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taser-Related Deaths = 997+ in North America

See "A LIST OF THE DEAD"According to Taser International, the taser had nothing to do with any of these deaths. According to Amnesty International, the taser has been identified as either a cause or contributing factor in at least 60 of them. That number would be higher; however medical examiners and coroners are often not impartial but are instead biased in favour of the Crown or, as has been shown, they are under tremendous pressure from - among others - Taser International, to make a particular finding.See Judge rules for Taser in cause-of-death decisions

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Taser International finally admits risk that their weapons may affect the human heart

RCMP - TASERS POTENTIALLY LETHAL

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My Brother - Robert Bagnell June 27, 1959 - June 23, 2004

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2) Until such time as independent and unbiased study into the "real world" safety implications of Tasers has been properly completed, a moratorium must be imposed upon these weapons.

3) If, after independent and unbiased study has been completed, the Taser is going to remain in the police arsenal, it must be placed at a level equal to lethal force on the continuum of force and used only as a second-to-last resort.

4) Safety standards must be developed for Tasers. There are currently no Canadian safety standards in place for this weapon.

5) Police must not be allowed to investigate themselves but must be subject to independent and unbiased civilian oversight.

6) Families of people who die in police custody in Canada must be provided with funding so that they may be properly represented by legal counsel.

07. Robert Bagnell, 44 – Vancouver, BC - June 23, 2004 - X26 - "Official" cause of death: Consistent with restraint-associated cardiac arrest due to acute cocaine intoxication and psychosis. Bob's autopsy report showed marks on his body consistent to multiple taser shots, which incidently could not be affirmed by the pathologist because she could not explain those marks.

09. Samuel Truscott, 43 – Kingston, ON - August 8, 2004 - X26 - "Official" cause of death: Heart attack cause by drug overdose and "I can state categorically that the Taser did not play any role whatsoever in his death" said Chief Coroner for Ontario, Jim Cairns

24. Michael Langan, 17, Winnipeg, MB - July 22, 2008 - tasered 1 time - the autopsy report says Langan's death was caused by a heart arrhythmia brought on by the Taser shocks

25. Sean Reilly, 42 - Brampton, ON - September 17, 2008 - Peel Regional Police - X26 - tasered 2 times - the inquest jury will determine the official cause of death, however, “the forensic evidence indicated that the force used by the officers, including the Taser discharge, did not contribute to his death"

27. Trevor Grimolfson, 38 - Edmonton, AB - October 29, 2008, X26 - According to sources, after he was pepper sprayed, Trevor was tasered directly on the chest 5 times and tasered on the back of the neck 2 more times - Edmonton police said he was only tasered 2 times but testing on the tasers proves otherwise - "Official" cause of death: excited delirium brought on by drugs

29. Grant William Prentice, 40 - Brooks, AB - May 6, 2009 - RCMP - tasered 2 times - "Official" cause of death: acute cocaine toxicity and "the medical examiner also concluded the taser did not play a role in the death"

Ain't it the truth!

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80% percent of the population could be moved in either direction

Human rights activist Susan Sontag, when asked what she had learned from the Holocaust, said that 10 percent of any population is cruel, no matter what, and that 10 percent is merciful, no matter what, and that the remaining 80 percent could be moved in either direction.

THE Successes AREN'T the Problem

"The issue is not whether or not the taser can be used in a high percentage of cases to reduce death and/or physical trauma to officers and civilians alike. The issue is whether or not it's OK to kill the rest through ignorance and rationalization just because it's a small percentage ... The successes aren't the problem - the failures are. They're being told that tasers are nonlethal, so they blast away until people can't move. They're killing people by accident." Dave Siegler, father of Raymond Siegler, who died on February 12, 2004

The artistic side of Robert Bagnell

WE KNOW THIS MUCH IS TRUE

ROBERT ANGLEN

Robert Anglen, a reporter with The Arizona Republic, documented the first 167 Taser-related deaths. Mr. Anglen launched a journalistic investigation of Taser International, linking the Taser to multiple deaths, among other eye-openers.

At the 2005 Arizona Press Club Awards, Mr. Anglen won first place in the Investigative reporting category. He was the recipient of the Don Bolles Award for his report entitled "Taser tied to 'independent' study that backs stun gun'. “As part of an extraordinarily thorough investigation of Taser International, Anglen uncovered ‘smoking gun’ documents that showed the manufacturer was heavily involved in the key study that purported the devices are safe. Anglen also uncovered conflicts of interest and documented wide-spread problems with Taser safety — a matter of national and international public interest.”

In 2006, Mr. Anglen was a runner up for the Arizona Press Club's Virg Hill Journalist of the Year award. Peter Bhatia of The Oregonian wrote “Robert Anglen is an investigative reporter, pure and simple. Clearly, he is a reporter who, once he sinks his teeth into something, stays with it until the story is done. His ongoing work around the company that makes Tasers speaks to that."